First Information Exchange Meeting on Nuclear Production of Hydrogen

Paris, France

2-3 October, 2000

Background

The
first phase of nuclear power deployment has reached maturity in a number
of OECD Member countries. For example, nuclear power contributes 17% of
world's electricity supply. It contributes 22% of electricity generation
in the U.S. and as much as 80% in some European countries.

The
world demand for energy will experience unprecedented growth in the coming
decades to support both population increase and to fuel exceptional economic
development which is underway especially in Asia and South America. At
the same time, the global ecological consequences of emissions from energy
production and end use are causing increasing concern and drawing the
attention of the governments and international policy makers[1]. Central
among these issues is that of the effect of increasing CO2
emissions on the global climate.

Nuclear power emits no CO2. It is the only
proven, commercially competitive alternative to fossil energy sources
which is currently available. Known uranium and thorium reserves are sufficient
to fuel society's growing energy needs for centuries - qualifying nuclear
power as a valid future sustainable energy supply [2]. Nuclear power will
most certainly continue to play a significant role in satisfying the world's
growing energy requirements in an ecologically friendly way.

For
the future, driven by emissions limits in the transportation sector, fuel
cell energy conversion systems which are capable of even higher efficiencies
(>50%), are under commercial development and prototype deployment.
It can reasonably be expected that over the next several decades, extensive
manufacturing experience will drive their (currently high) capital cost
down, and fuel cells operating on hydrogen will assume a major share of
the transportation energy market.

The
concept of a "Hydrogen Economy" [3a, 3b, 4] in which nuclear
heat from fast spectrum reactors consuming U-238 or Th-232 is used to
crack water for production of hydrogen in large energy parks - with subsequent
hydrogen shipment to energy end users (as an ecologically superior and
sustainable substitute for hydrocarbon fuels) was advanced in the 1970s.

The
concept of a hydrogen economy was economically infeasible when it was
first proposed, but has remained of interest in the renewable community
and to policy planners [5]. In the meantime, technology development has
remained active (see IAEA's recently published report [6]). Conversion
technologies to enable hydrogen production from water - relying on electrolysis,
on closed chemical conversion cycles such as numerous sulfur processes,
and on electrochemical technologies - have all advanced technically. Theoretical
efficiencies of up to 50% are reported for thermochemical cycles. Fuel
cell technology has advanced to a point where transition of the transportation
sector's energy requirements (and CO2 emission abatement requirements)
to a hydrogen economy can be foreseen in the next several decades. Additionally,
hydrogen storage and transport technologies are being advanced in connection
with the development of fuel cell usage for transportation.

For
this reason, the Nuclear Science Committee (NSC) of the OECD Nuclear Energy
Agency (NEA) decided in its June 1999 meeting to organize an Information
Exchange Meeting on the Nuclear Production of Hydrogen. The meeting took
place in Paris.

The
meeting was devoted to discussions concerning:

physics and chemistry of the methods for the production of hydrogen;

application, concepts and roles of nuclear technology for hydrogen
production, and R&D programs ongoing as well as planned;

needs
in R&D and the formulation of recommendations to the OECD/NEA-NSC
as to the path forward.

The proceedings were compiled, edited and published by the meeting secretariat
shortly after the meeting and are available from
the OECD bookshop. The abstracts (
abstract-1.pdf ; 84.1 kb ) of the meeting are also available.